Marty, the purple martin

On a chilly day in March Allen put up a new purple martin house that we purchased as our old one was falling apart.  I had read that the martins were arriving a little earlier than normal.  They migrate here from across the Gulf, from Brazil! 

Spring is so lovely!

Hello Mr. House finch

Mr. Downey 

For the first time in 19 years in our home, a little titmouse showed up!  I've seen them on our bird walks in North Newton but not here in the south part of town.

It wasn't long after Allen put up our martin house that the purple martins moved into the new apartment.  

They settled right in.

 Mrs. Robin made her nest and laid her eggs.

In the winter, the goldfinches are a duller yellow, but when spring comes, they really brighten up to attract their mates!

The red-bellied woodpecker is looking pretty snappy.

Juvenile female cardinal

Male cardinal

Harris' sparrow

The orioles arrived toward the end of April.  

Male Baltimore oriole above, female below

The Orchard oriole is a deeper rusty orange color.

I give them sugar water, jelly and orange slices.

Mr. Squirrel was enjoying the grape jelly too.

I purchased a baffle and it helped.

Mr. Squirrel gobbles it all up otherwise.

Mr. Grackle

The purple martins had their babies.

Feed us!  Feed us!!

It is a full-time job to keep these babies' tummies filled.

See the littlest one on the top right?  I named him Marty.

One day I heard the purple martins making a huge commotion.

I watched as several of them went after the hawk and chased him away!  

When we as Christians are feeling attacked by the enemy, this is a picture of what we should do.  Don't try to fight the enemy by ourselves, but call on friends to pray with you and go to battle with you against the devil.

"be alert and always keep on praying for all God's people."  Ephesians 6:18

As the babies grew, they began to take up a lot of space.

Allen decided to add a couple branches for more landing spots.

One by one the babies were learning to fly.  There were two fledglings left.

Mr. Sparrow was encouraging them.  "You can do it!" 

(I know.  Those of you who study birds will try to tell me that sparrows are bully birds and kill purple martin babies.  We do have means to take care of that, but this sparrow came just a couple of days ago and was not nesting in the house and I never saw him bother the babies.)

"You can do it!", Mr. Dove cooed.  

This old Patti-book is one I read to my grandkids.  I made up a song to those words "Fly, fly birdies fly."  

Then only Marty was left.

  "You can do it, Marty!  Fly, birdie, fly, fly!" 𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅯

Marty kept trying out his wings as his mommy watched on.

I watched mommy fly down and try to give him a little shove.

Not today.  He went back into his hole.

Later he came back out.  "Mommy, I'm hungry!"

Mommy continued to feed him.

Daddy came to say "Come on, Marty!  You gotta fly!"

"This is how you do it!  Flap those wings!"

"What shall we do with Marty?"  More of the colony returned to encourage him.

"I can't do it, mommy!"

Several times it looked like he was going to take off!  He was up on the rails and flapping his wings.

The next day when they came back, they gave him a talking to.

They even began to peck his head.

Poor guy.  I've heard that if a fledgling won't fly and it is time for the colony to migrate back to Brazil, they'll leave the baby behind.  That's worse.

I was glad to see that mommy continued to feed Marty.

Later that day, Marty decided he would try to fly.  His brother and sisters had flown.  Surely he could do it too!

Oh no!!

Help!!

Marty fell down on the soft green grass.

He had to wonder what it was!

He decided he better find shelter from a hawk or kitty.

I had read that purple martins will not feed their fledglings on the ground like robins do.  So we decided to rescue him.  Al put on gloves and we caught him.  We lowered the house and put him back inside his hole.

He stayed inside his hole all the next day.  I was worried about him.  But then he finally came out!!  Yay!

And the next day, I saw him and his mommy (I'm pretty sure) flying around, back and forth.  Marty was practicing flying.  They have a big journey to take soon!  In 
August, purple martins from all over the state and perhaps other states also, converge in Wichita to gather for the big journey ahead!  Here is a video from another year: